Published on: August 14, 2025 12:32 pm IST
The advisor of the drought asked people to remove the old photographs. It looked silly. Nevertheless, the data centers use too much water to cool down.
Should you ever remove a photo to save water? Looks strange. Nevertheless, the advice of a real government in Britain suggested properly during a dry summer. It raised jokes online, but there is also a proper question for all that live in the cloud.
Why clouds appear in drought
Most of our drawings and email data sit in the centers. These are huge buildings that are full of servers that run hot. By cooling them, a lot of water is required in many sites. Independent studies have tried to determine it. Research by academics associated with Oxford estimates that a modest 1 MW facility can use millions of liters of water every year to cool alone. The figures of utilities and the company’s revelations suggest that the picture varies by the area. Some operators now use recycled or non -potable water. Other local rules and weather are switched to air or evaporative cooling depending on the weather.
Big tech is under pressure to reduce this footprint. Google has tested recycled waste water to cool at places like Douglas County in Georgia. Microsoft tested a underwater data center to tap the ambient cooling. Cloud firms also publish the effectiveness of water use such as matrix to show progress. The overall instinct is clear. Our digital life is the physical cost. As the use of AI increases, the demand for calculation increases, so the need for electricity and cooling can also increase until the design changes.
So what helps remove photos?
For a person, removal of some holiday albums is not reprimanded the reservoir. On the scale, data hygiene can still matter. Low storage used can reduce the requirement of additional racks and cool in a long time. More immediate victories are practical. Fix the leaks at home. take shorter showers. Delay in washing cars. They save more water today. If you still want to clean your digital life, look for cloud providers who reveal water and energy matrix, and this recycling prioritizes water where the local supply is tight.
In short, the UK’s tip was clumsy, not baseless. It tried to connect the daily habits with hidden costs. If you are a photographer or manufacturer sitting on terabytes, it is a good practice to cure duplicate and rejection anyway. For everyone else, balance the message. Keep your memories Keep in mind where you store them. And push the providers to manufacture in ways that use less fresh water because heatwaves become more common.
